Chuck Close "Self-Portraits"

From: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Limited Edition: 55
Exhibition: Chuck Close Self-Portraits 1967-2005
Material: Printed vinyl
Dimensions: 35" x 72" (88cm x 182cm)

Hanging Hardware Included

 

Description

In response to the dominant Abstract Expressionist ideologies of his day, Chuck Close sought to obliterate the brush stroke rather than to exalt it. His works were made of infinitesimally small brush strokes that created a detailed image with a photographic realism. In Close’s own words: “As I was growing up in the '40s and '50s, paintings got bigger, the marks got bigger, the brushes got bigger, and yet the part-to-whole relationships stayed the same…. What I was trying to do with these paintings was to make a big, aggressive, confrontational, knock-your-socks-off image from a distance that was also extremely intimate…." He succeeded in doing just that.

As his career progressed, his methods and media changed. Instead of the smallest of brush strokes, his works were often created from rough strokes or even small pieces of paper that developed into the whole. Using his fingers, scraps of paper, an eraser mounted on a drill, even an airbrush, Close meticulously recreated photographs on his canvases, often replicating each dot on an enormous, oversized grid. At other times, he destroyed the concept of the grid entirely, or played with the visual results of a grid by tilting it on a diagonal.

In many ways, Close’s art is about the art of painting itself. His process, evolution, methods, and media are at times as visible and central to the finished work as are his subjects. Throughout his four decades as an artist, he has often taken as his subject self-portraits, and has continually found ways to approach these in a fresh manner and with astonishingly dramatic results.

This banner features two of Close’s renowned self-portraits, one on each side of the banner, allowing you to choose which side to display based on your interior, style, or mood! One side features Close’s massive, black and white Big Self Portrait (1967-68) from the collection of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Above the image is a white band with the name of the exhibition “Chuck Close/Self-Portraits 1967-2005” in black. Below the image is the museum’s “SFMOMA” logo in black and yellow.

The other side of the banner features a more recent, full-color self-portrait from 2000-2001. This work shows the evolution of his decades long fascination with images of self, facial features, and techniques for expression. Text on this side includes only the dates of the exhibition, “NOV 19 – FEB 28” above the image.

Provenance

These banners were displayed around San Francisco to promote the exhibition, Chuck Close Self-Portraits, 1967-2005 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition was also seen at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Albright-Knox Art Center in Buffalo, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

About the Artist

Learn more about Chuck Close